Search on customer satisfaction tips and you’ll see similar advice:
Listen
Be Responsive
Get to Know Your Customers
Measure and Improve
The advice is good. It is also essential.
Let’s go a step further. Consider what client satisfaction processes would make your company’s culture distinct.
There are three steps that have made a real difference in distinguishing my business mentoring and training company. As we expand our continuum of services to include a co-working and conference space, we are also consciously checking in with our clients to make sure the programs and services continue to provide value.
Below are three tips for client satisfaction that have made a real difference:
1. Make Random Client Calls
While we teach business owners the importance of automation and systematization, there is a balance. If you don’t have enough automation, you may not be able to serve your clients at a high level because you’re spending too much time with your routine, manual processes. If you add too much automation, you lose touch with your clients. Integrating personalized calls are a warm welcome.
Each month, I randomly select a client to call. Whether I’m leaving a message or catch them live, I ask them how they are doing. I leave myself open to hear whatever they want to share.
Since the calls are random, it also doesn’t matter whether the person attended one of our live workshops, we’re working with their company’s leadership team, or they are a mentoring or coaching client. All clients are important.
While they are sometimes surprised by the call, they recognize and appreciate the outreach. For clients who purchased a self-study training program or attended a workshop, they are usually shocked to get a call. Sadly, this tells me this process is not a common practice. And, at the end of the call, they almost always share that they feel touched in some way by the call.
While it’s not always possible to get to every client, it makes a big difference for those you do reach.
2. Provide an After Action Report
Unfortunately, what typically happens with training is a trainer goes into an organization, executes their training, and often leaves the client to figure out how they are going to implement next steps.
As part of our high-performance team training process, we set up metrics to measure a return on their training investment. An After Action Report is written and sent to the client.
An After Action Report is a handy summary with next steps. One of the best practices we implement for our clients happens at the end of each training session. We ask each participant to identify what they will implement as a result of the training, identify a due date, and assign a responsible party for that action being implemented.
The After Action Report also serves as a follow up to those plans, showing each client ways to get the highest return on their training investment.
3. Let Go
One of the best ways you can help your client may be to let them go. Usually, you see the behaviors. They resist, don’t implement, complain, blame everyone else for their situation, make excuses, and/or do not take full responsibility for their outcomes and commitments.
This is not to say don’t hold them accountable for their promises or take a stand. However, you can release what is not yours.
It can take quite a bit of emotional labor to release them and be unattached. In some cases, the best thing for them and you is to let go.
When it comes to Client Satisfaction, there are many factors that have influenced these steps. Know that these tips didn’t come first. The steps are the product of aligning and standing for our Contribution in the World.
What’s your Contribution in the World?
To crystallize your Contribution in the World, systematize your business management systems, and scale your business, join Lisa Mininni for the Wake Up Profitable Boot Camp for Business Owners on April 26-27, 2018 in her new headquarters, co-working and conference space in Livonia, Michigan.
Register at:
http://excellerateassociates.com/wake-up-profitable-boot-camp/
Apply code: 2018wupsponsorlam
Apply Early Tuition Code by March 9, 2018
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